They could scarcely believe their eyes as half-a-dozen dead rodents dropped from ducting at Selfridges.

The mice landed near to two outlets, The Noodle Bar and the Pretzel Bar, where customers were enjoying meals on Saturday. A number of people are believed to have walked out and up to 20 who were at The Noodle Bar were refunded.

Both outlets were closed until Selfridges shut for the day at 8pm.

Today, a Selfridges spokesman said: “We are very sorry for any distress caused by what happened.”

He said mice droppings had been spotted in a back-of-house area during regular checks last week, leading to poison being laid down by pest controllers.

“As a result of the measures that had been put in place there were a number of dead or dying mice which fell in to the food hall from the non-shop floor areas above in level one, which houses the air conditioning ducts and brackets holing the electricity cables.

“On Saturday evening pest control were called out to clear the mice away.

The spokesman added: “Environmental health officers were called in to make sure the matter was dealt with and doesn’t happen again.

“At their recommendation we have now identified areas the mice may have been coming in and had those blocked off.”

There had been no more incidents and the food hall was open as usual from Sunday, he added.